Nets 97, Pacers 86: Advanced Box & Reaction

Check out the advanced box score from last night’s 97-86 Nets victory here.

A few takeaways:

The team’s two best players in terms of plus-minus: starting point guard Deron Williams (+13) and backup point guard C.J. Watson (+15). Despite sharing a position, the two affected the game in starkly different ways; Williams by hitting a couple of threes, getting to the free throw line, and creating for others by attacking the rim, Watson by hitting midrange jumpers and getting a nice fast-break layup over the foul trouble-addled Paul George.

Other than the three turnovers, Kris Humphries had a hell of a night: 29% of all rebounds when he was on the floor, 10 points on seven shots & two free throws. Looked like a new Humphries, in that it looked like the old Humphries: sticking to basic principles, attacking the glass and getting quick clean-up points.

Deron Williams & Joe Johnson can’t play 42 and 41 minutes in every close game.

Brook Lopez had the team’s lowest defensive rating and a higher rebound percentage than Reggie Evans. What? Defensive rating is essentially useless on an individual basis, even moreso when used in just one game? Am I supposed to care? BROOK LOPEZ IS A DEFENSIVE MONSTER AND JUST ACCEPT IT ALREADY.

In all seriousness, Lopez did get caught fading back on pick-and-roll coverages on a few occasions, more often in the first half, but had another “he’s not terrible” game both on the boards and defending the paint.

Rough games off the bench for Andray Blatche and MarShon Brooks. Blatche only hit one shot — a stepback jumper that, while nice to go in, is not the highest-percentage look — and Brooks only hit one floating jumper in the second quarter.

The biggest discrepancy between these two teams is clearly the fouls & foul shooting. The Nets got to the line 31 times tonight to the Pacers’ 12. I wouldn’t say that this was referee bias; the Nets attacked the lane over and over again in the first three quarters and continued to probe in the fourth, even though they got their shots from outside. The Pacers didn’t display as much aggressiveness.